With six laps to go before the checkered flag, with the flat bottom of the Aston Martin broken by a pothole, Fernando Alonso said enough at the Circuit of the Americas. He had started from the pit-lane, only behind the Haas, but he climbed thanks to the notable improvement of the AMR-23, which was able to ride at the pace of the favorites. When he was already settled in ninth place, also stalking Pierre Gasly, misfortune fell on Alonso, in the form of his first retirement of the year. A lackluster closing for a Sunday where Max Verstappen won his fiftieth victory in F1, after a nice duel against Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris. Just over four seconds from the podium, Carlos Sainz had to resign.
The closest victory in 2023 for the three-time world champion, a victim of overheating in the brakes and tire degradation, should not detract from Hamilton's excellent driving, who feels at home in Texas. Nor should we overlook the bravery of Norris, engaged in several battles despite his notorious mechanical inferiority.. And in similar terms we must refer to Alonso's performance.
In principle, he had nothing to lose on a Sunday conceived more as a testing ground for the four remaining events than as a race itself.. Therefore, Aston Martin broke the parc fermé regulations to change the aerodynamic settings of the AMR-23. More than reaching the points, the realistic objective, with 56 laps ahead, was to preserve the mechanics. Especially those hot brakes that had been getting on Lance Stroll's nerves.
Two tenths over Russell and Pérez
However, Alonso soon realized that things were going much better than expected.. At the beginning, he got rid of Nico Hulkenberg, with hard tires, and took advantage of the other Haas entering the pits.. AlphaTauri and Alpine, who had beaten him since Friday, now looked like sheep on their way to the slaughterhouse. And after the first pit-stop, with his second set of mediums, the two-time champion began to nail the times around 1:41.6, almost identical to those who were fighting in the lead.. “I was just about to tell you. “You are two tenths faster than the two in front,” they detailed to the Asturian over the radio, in reference to George Russell and Sergio Pérez..
He pushed so hard that he received a couple of warnings for exceeding the track limits. Even the unfortunate Stroll wanted to cheer himself up with an exciting final stretch, even lowering the leader's times.. The fact is that when Yuki Tsunoda mounted his first soft drink tires, he couldn't get close to Alonso either, who was closing the gap on Pierre Gasly with a terrifying voracity.. With 13 laps to go, Aston Martin stopped him for the last time and when he rejoined the track, tenth, he still had the AlphaTauri and the Alpine within range..
Hamilton, with plenty of weapons to attack Sergio Pérez's runner-up position, suffered his share when arriving at the first corner, where he lost position to Sainz. A small miracle from the Madrid native, because the pace of his SF-23 had nothing to do with that of Mercedes. In five laps, the seven-time champion regained his place and a couple of minutes later he got rid of Charles Leclerc, in search of the lead.
Norris, in the lead, polished his deficit on the straights on the linked curves, where his top speed was almost 14 km/h lower than Red Bull.. He commanded with some slack, while Oscar Piastri, his teammate at McLaren, ruined Esteban Ocon's Sunday with a beastly attack on the Alpine's left sidepod.. The damage, logically, also triggered the abandonment of the Australian.
The blow to Norris
On asphalt at 40ºC, tire management to avoid the feared degradation had to be a priority. The one who seemed to take it most seriously was Verstappen, who after gaining two positions at the start, did not even want to unfurl his sails until reaching the equator.. It's not that he took it with patience, but rather with presumption. His maneuver to conquer the lead, on the inside of turn 12, after going for a knife with the DRS, made things very clear to Norris.
Leclerc, pole-sitter, worked hard to maintain Ferrari's podium hopes, based on his one-stop plan. And the Monegasque was enraged when after 11 laps they proposed a change. As his word is law in the red box, he ended up squeezing the Pirelli targets until 33 laps, which left him sixth at the finish line.
Up front, Mad Max had to hold on firmly to the helm, at the insistence of Hamilton and Norris, who already sensed his red-hot brakes up close. Crossing the checkered flag with just two seconds is already news for Red Bull in 2023. Although there are still Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi to tackle new records.